Enter King Edward, ⌜Richard, Duke of⌝ Gloucester,
⌜George, Duke of⌝ Clarence, Lady Grey,
⌜and Attendants.⌝KING EDWARD Brother of Gloucester, at Saint Albans field This lady’s husband, Sir Richard Grey, was slain, His land then seized on by the conqueror. Her suit is now to repossess those lands,5 Which we in justice cannot well deny, Because in quarrel of the house of York The worthy gentleman did lose his life.RICHARD Your Highness shall do well to grant her suit; It were dishonor to deny it her.KING EDWARD 10 It were no less, but yet I’ll make a pause.RICHARD, ⌜aside to Clarence⌝ Yea, is it so? I see the lady hath a thing to grant Before the King will grant her humble suit.CLARENCE, ⌜formerly GEORGE, aside to Richard⌝ He knows the game; how true he keeps the wind!RICHARD, ⌜aside to Clarence⌝ 15Silence!KING EDWARD Widow, we will consider of your suit, And come some other time to know our mind.LADY GREY Right gracious lord, I cannot brook delay. May it please your Highness to resolve me now,20 And what your pleasure is shall satisfy me.RICHARD, ⌜aside to Clarence⌝ Ay, widow? Then I’ll warrant you all your lands, An if what pleases him shall pleasure you. Fight closer, or, good faith, you’ll catch a blow.
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CLARENCE, ⌜aside to Richard⌝ I fear her not, unless she chance to fall.RICHARD, ⌜aside to Clarence⌝ 25 God forbid that, for he’ll take vantages.KING EDWARD How many children hast thou, widow? Tell me.CLARENCE, ⌜aside to Richard⌝ I think he means to beg a child of her.RICHARD, ⌜aside to Clarence⌝ Nay, then, whip me; he’ll rather give her two.LADY GREY Three, my most gracious lord.RICHARD, ⌜aside to Clarence⌝ 30 You shall have four if you’ll be ruled by him.KING EDWARD ’Twere pity they should lose their father’s lands.LADY GREY Be pitiful, dread lord, and grant it then.KING EDWARD Lords, give us leave. I’ll try this widow’s wit.⌜Richard and Clarence stand aside.⌝RICHARD, ⌜aside to Clarence⌝ Ay, good leave have you, for you will have leave35 Till youth take leave and leave you to the crutch.KING EDWARD Now tell me, madam, do you love your children?LADY GREY Ay, full as dearly as I love myself.KING EDWARD And would you not do much to do them good?LADY GREY To do them good I would sustain some harm.KING EDWARD 40 Then get your husband’s lands to do them good.LADY GREY Therefore I came unto your Majesty.
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KING EDWARD I’ll tell you how these lands are to be got.LADY GREY So shall you bind me to your Highness’ service.KING EDWARD What service wilt thou do me if I give them?LADY GREY 45 What you command that rests in me to do.KING EDWARD But you will take exceptions to my boon.LADY GREY No, gracious lord, except I cannot do it.KING EDWARD Ay, but thou canst do what I mean to ask.LADY GREY Why, then, I will do what your Grace commands.RICHARD, ⌜aside to Clarence⌝ 50 He plies her hard, and much rain wears the marble.CLARENCE, ⌜aside to Richard⌝ As red as fire! Nay, then, her wax must melt.LADY GREY Why stops my lord? Shall I not hear my task?KING EDWARD An easy task; ’tis but to love a king.LADY GREY That’s soon performed because I am a subject.KING EDWARD 55 Why, then, thy husband’s lands I freely give thee.LADY GREY I take my leave with many thousand thanks.⌜She curtsies and begins to exit.⌝RICHARD, ⌜aside to Clarence⌝ The match is made; she seals it with a cursy.KING EDWARD But stay thee; ’tis the fruits of love I mean.
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LADY GREY The fruits of love I mean, my loving liege.KING EDWARD 60 Ay, but, I fear me, in another sense. What love, think’st thou, I sue so much to get?LADY GREY My love till death, my humble thanks, my prayers, That love which virtue begs and virtue grants.KING EDWARD No, by my troth, I did not mean such love.LADY GREY 65 Why, then, you mean not as I thought you did.KING EDWARD But now you partly may perceive my mind.LADY GREY My mind will never grant what I perceive Your Highness aims at, if I aim aright.KING EDWARD To tell thee plain, I aim to lie with thee.LADY GREY 70 To tell you plain, I had rather lie in prison.KING EDWARD Why, then, thou shalt not have thy husband’s lands.LADY GREY Why, then, mine honesty shall be my dower, For by that loss I will not purchase them.KING EDWARD Therein thou wrong’st thy children mightily.LADY GREY 75 Herein your Highness wrongs both them and me. But, mighty lord, this merry inclination Accords not with the sadness of my suit. Please you dismiss me either with ay or no.KING EDWARD Ay, if thou wilt say “ay” to my request;80 No, if thou dost say “no” to my demand.
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LADY GREY Then no, my lord; my suit is at an end.RICHARD, ⌜aside to Clarence⌝ The widow likes him not; she knits her brows.CLARENCE, ⌜aside to Richard⌝ He is the bluntest wooer in Christendom.KING EDWARD, ⌜aside⌝ Her looks doth argue her replete with modesty;85 Her words doth show her wit incomparable; All her perfections challenge sovereignty. One way or other, she is for a king, And she shall be my love or else my queen.— Say that King Edward take thee for his queen?LADY GREY 90 ’Tis better said than done, my gracious lord. I am a subject fit to jest withal, But far unfit to be a sovereign.KING EDWARD Sweet widow, by my state I swear to thee I speak no more than what my soul intends,95 And that is, to enjoy thee for my love.LADY GREY And that is more than I will yield unto. I know I am too mean to be your queen And yet too good to be your concubine.KING EDWARD You cavil, widow; I did mean my queen.LADY GREY 100 ’Twill grieve your Grace my sons should call you father.KING EDWARD No more than when my daughters call thee mother. Thou art a widow and thou hast some children, And, by God’s mother, I, being but a bachelor,105 Have other some. Why, ’tis a happy thing To be the father unto many sons. Answer no more, for thou shalt be my queen.
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RICHARD, ⌜aside to Clarence⌝ The ghostly father now hath done his shrift.CLARENCE, ⌜aside to Richard⌝ When he was made a shriver, ’twas for shift.KING EDWARD 110 Brothers, you muse what chat we two have had.RICHARD The widow likes it not, for she looks very sad.KING EDWARD You’d think it strange if I should marry her.CLARENCE To who, my lord?KING EDWARD Why, Clarence, to myself.RICHARD 115 That would be ten days’ wonder at the least.CLARENCE That’s a day longer than a wonder lasts.RICHARD By so much is the wonder in extremes.KING EDWARD Well, jest on, brothers. I can tell you both Her suit is granted for her husband’s lands.Enter a Nobleman.NOBLEMAN 120 My gracious lord, Henry, your foe, is taken And brought your prisoner to your palace gate.KING EDWARD See that he be conveyed unto the Tower.⌜Nobleman exits.⌝ And go we, brothers, to the man that took him, To question of his apprehension.—125 Widow, go you along.—Lords, use her ⌜honorably.⌝They exit.
Richard remains.
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RICHARD Ay, Edward will use women honorably! Would he were wasted—marrow, bones, and all— That from his loins no hopeful branch may spring To cross me from the golden time I look for.130 And yet, between my soul’s desire and me, The lustful Edward’s title burièd, Is Clarence, Henry, and his son, young Edward, And all the unlooked-for issue of their bodies To take their rooms ere I can place myself.135 A cold premeditation for my purpose. Why, then, I do but dream on sovereignty Like one that stands upon a promontory And spies a far-off shore where he would tread, Wishing his foot were equal with his eye,140 And chides the sea that sunders him from thence, Saying he’ll lade it dry to have his way. So do I wish the crown, being so far off, And so I chide the means that keeps me from it, And so, I say, I’ll cut the causes off,145 Flattering me with impossibilities. My eye’s too quick, my heart o’erweens too much, Unless my hand and strength could equal them. Well, say there is no kingdom then for Richard, What other pleasure can the world afford?150 I’ll make my heaven in a lady’s lap And deck my body in gay ornaments, And ’witch sweet ladies with my words and looks. O miserable thought, and more unlikely Than to accomplish twenty golden crowns!155 Why, Love forswore me in my mother’s womb, And, for I should not deal in her soft laws, She did corrupt frail Nature with some bribe To shrink mine arm up like a withered shrub; To make an envious mountain on my back,
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160 Where sits Deformity to mock my body; To shape my legs of an unequal size; To disproportion me in every part, Like to a chaos, or an unlicked bear-whelp, That carries no impression like the dam.165 And am I then a man to be beloved? O monstrous fault to harbor such a thought! Then, since this Earth affords no joy to me But to command, to check, to o’erbear such As are of better person than myself,170 I’ll make my heaven to dream upon the crown, And, whiles I live, t’ account this world but hell Until my misshaped trunk that bears this head Be round impalèd with a glorious crown. And yet I know not how to get the crown,175 For many lives stand between me and home; And I, like one lost in a thorny wood, That rents the thorns and is rent with the thorns, Seeking a way and straying from the way, Not knowing how to find the open air,180 But toiling desperately to find it out, Torment myself to catch the English crown. And from that torment I will free myself Or hew my way out with a bloody axe. Why, I can smile, and murder whiles I smile,185 And cry “Content” to that which grieves my heart, And wet my cheeks with artificial tears, And frame my face to all occasions. I’ll drown more sailors than the mermaid shall; I’ll slay more gazers than the basilisk;190 I’ll play the orator as well as Nestor, Deceive more slyly than Ulysses could, And, like a Sinon, take another Troy. I can add colors to the chameleon, Change shapes with Proteus for advantages,
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195 And set the murderous Machiavel to school. Can I do this and cannot get a crown? Tut, were it farther off, I’ll pluck it down.He exits.
Henry VI, Part 3
